


Ward of the Empire

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Emperor Dooku [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, GFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan and Anakin find a scared Ezra Bridger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ward of the Empire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OwlFlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlFlight/gifts).



> There is a lot of backstory that is not yet written to get to this point of this AU. Useful to know for this story:
> 
> Dooku is Emperor, with an Empress beside him. The Imperial Family is both blood-kin and adopted/students. Qui-Gon Jinn survived Naboo.
> 
> Imperial records show names as:  
> Obi-Wan Kenobi, Family Janne  
> Anakin Skywalker, Family Janne  
> Ezra Dume Bridger, Family Jinn

Anakin is laughing too much to care about the glare being directed at them by the youngling they've cornered, or the lightsaber pointing shakely at him. Some days Obi-Wan wonders if his partner wouldn't end up skewered or blasted without Obi-Wan around. A situation he would really prefer not to occur, as Padmé would be rather irritated at losing Anakin, and Obi-Wan's life is easier when Padmé is not upset.

"I didn't think the Jedi had taken up misnaming us, though I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised." Obi-Wan keeps his hands off his own lightsaber, though he's certain he can call it to hand swiftly enough if he needs it. They've only found a youngling, after all, not a fully-trained Jedi. "Some of them are very loud in their dislike of us."

"But you're Fallen. Dark and lost, nothing like the Jedi. How can you be anything but Sith?" The youngling stares at him, their expression uncertain.

"There is a difference between darkened, Fallen, and Sith, youngling." Obi-Wan smiles, hoping it's as reassuring to the youngling as it is for the twins. He doesn't think the youngling is much older than them, certainly, and not at all old enough to be anything more than a Padawan. "Your Master should be teaching you that. Where are they?"

A shakey laugh escapes the youngling, and they raise the lightsaber higher, making Anakin's laughter fade as he has to take a step back to avoid the end taking off part of his nose, or at least an eyebrow.

"You murdered him. I could feel it." The youngling's voice is as shakey as their laughter, and Obi-Wan shifts, trying to radiate calm.

"I haven't murdered any Jedi. Neither has Anakin. And it's been thirteen years since the Empire executed any Jedi." Obi-Wan keeps his smile on, and he can feel Anakin sobering quickly. Accusations of murder are rather more disturbing than those of being Sith. "Who is your Master, youngling?"

Obi-Wan hopes the youngling's Master is a defector, though it's possible they could be one of the prisoners. If they are one of the corpses they've found, it won't be easy to convince the youngling that it wasn't the fault of the Empire. Especially if their Master is one of those found with evidence of a lightsaber being used in the murder.

"Why do you care?" The lightsaber is lowering slowly, though Obi-Wan doesn't relax yet. He is certain there are more dangers in this potential minefield of a conversation.

"If your Master died inside the Empire, we'll have a record of it. It's easy enough to search those records, even from here." Obi-Wan gives Anakin a mental prod when he opens his mouth - whether to give a caveat or supplement to Obi-Wan's words doesn't much matter. It's hard enough to keep one of them from taking a misstep.

The youngling is silent a moment, watching them warily. "Caleb Dume. That was his name."

Obi-Wan freezes at the mention of that name, hoping there haven't been any recent bodies reported that he isn't aware of yet. Especially not any that would match the description for Caleb. He doesn't want to be the one to tell Qui-Gon of that death, if Caleb is indeed dead. Especially since Qui-Gon had never been entirely happy Caleb had gone with other Jedi who'd left the Empire rather than swear to the oaths of the Imperial Knights.

Less so because Caleb had been with Depa, and Obi-Wan didn't think she'd have taught him that the Imperial Knights were Sith. Not knowing what she did about Qui-Gon's hunt for the Sith Master before the Republic had collapsed and the Empire had risen from those ashes.

"There's no record of any corpse discovered which has been identified as Caleb Dume." Anakin has done what Obi-Wan had not been able to, and has search results scrolling over his wrist com, fed to him by Artoo via their ship's priority connection to the central archives. "No prison records, either."

Not that there would be, even if Caleb had been caught inside the Empire. No one in ImpSec would dare to touch a known Force-user, and Imperial Knights know better than to lock any of the Imperial Family - regardless of their current affiliations - in a cell.

Obi-Wan can feel Anakin's worry as Anakin looks at the younling, echoing Obi-Wan's own concern. That the Jedi - or some faction thereof - had murdered one of their own, and blamed the Empire for it.

"Do you have a holo?" They don't have as recent a one as either would like, and Obi-Wan is glad Anakin has the voice to ask.

"No." The youngling's lightsaber dips further, the tip nearly scorching the ground before they turn it off. "We're not allowed. It's a sign of attachment." He says that as if they should know it, that it's common knowledge, and Obi-Wan wonders what the Jedi are teaching now - and not for the first time in recent years.

That the youngling chased after their Master, especially assumed dead, will be sign enough of their attachment to Jedi, and Obi-Wan suspects the youngling is beginning to realize that. He's surprised, though, when the youngling holds out their lightsaber, expression strangely determined, and waits for Obi-Wan to take it.

"There. You've captured another Jedi." The youngling squares their shoulders, lifting their chin. "Do you still execute Jedi, or just lock them up and throw away the key?"

"Neither, if we can help it." Anakin crouches down so he's on eye-level with the youngling. "What's your name?"

"Ezra Dume." The youngling turns their attention to Anakin, and Obi-Wan takes the chance to inspect the lightsaber.

"I didn't think the Jedi allowed anyone to train their own children." There's mingled confusion and amusement from Anakin, though the amusement threatens to win out and provoke more laughter, and Obi-Wan allows himself an indulgent smile. Ezra is a little too old to potentially be Caleb's child, regardless of names.

Obi-Wan turns Ezra's lightsaber over in his hands, noting where non-standard parts had been used. It's an otherwise utterly bland lightsaber, devoid of any sense of personality or individuality, like it had been created as a training saber, and then never given up when Ezra became a Padawan. He's not sure if he finds that disturbing or sorrowful, though which may well depend on what the Jedi have become among those around Ezra.

"He's my teacher. I was just Ezra until he chose me to teach." Ezra frowns, radiating confusion into the Force, and Obi-Wan focuses on them. "Family names are discarded when you're given to the Jedi. Though at least we don't take everything, the way the Empire does, and we always have each other."

"The Empire doesn't take anyone's name from them, not even the worst of prisoners. Everyone is a person, with family, and no one should lose that." Anakin's anger is a harsh undertone in his voice, and heated waves along his bond with Obi-Wan. "We can look for your parents, if you'd like. Find the name the Jedi stole from you."

It's not a promise Anakin should make, especially if Ezra's parents are outside the Empire.

"Why?" Ezra shifts on their feet, their hands clenching into fists a moment before they visibly relax, letting frustration go into the Force. "The Jedi are my family. They wanted me, and I was given to them."

Obi-Wan tucks Ezra's lightsaber into his belt, resting a hand on Anakin's shoulder. Silently restraining the outburst he can feel building in Anakin, even though he'd like to snarl himself at the Jedi.

"The Jedi used to embrace knowing where they came from, rather than rejecting those ties." Obi-Wan keeps his voice steady and calm, smiling a moment at Ezra. "I don't know when or why that has changed, and honestly, it matters less to me than your future, Ezra."

"I'm a Jedi prisoner of the Empire." Ezra smiles, radiating triumph and something Obi-Wan can't identify at first. "If my Master is alive, he'll come looking for me, and we will escape or die trying."

Obi-Wan tightens his grip on Anakin's shoulder, both to give his partner an anchor against the fatalism and bright fanaticism coming off Ezra, and to control his own temper. To find the Jedi are training potential martyrs is not anything he'd expected to find. It makes him wonder what Qui-Gon's contacts are failing to tell him. Not that there is much they can do, with the Jedi outside the bounds of the Empire, and thus beyond their mandate. Unless the Emperor and Empress agree to expand, and can obtain the funds for such a venture from the Imperial Senate, and Obi-Wan has strong doubts any of them will wish to do so just to root out what might be one small faction of Jedi.

"You're not a prisoner. You're too young." Anakin stands, holding out his hand for Ezra, though it takes several minutes of waiting for them to figure out what is wanted. "You are a ward of the Empire, a youngling found without a caretaker."

A state which will only last as long as it officially must, once they return to Coruscant. Even if they cannot find Ezra's birth family or Caleb, Obi-Wan doubts Qui-Gon will leave Ezra an orphan.

"What does that mean?" Ezra is watching Anakin with a frown on their face again, confusion once more their dominant emotion. They're far more volatile than Obi-Wan remembers being, at least outwardly. Perhaps another change in Jedi training?

Obi-Wan falls in on the far side of Ezra as Anakin tugs them into motion, leaving aside those thoughts for later. "It means we will put every effort into locating your birth family, and Caleb Dume. If we cannot find either inside the bounds of the Empire within half a standard year, you will officially be an orphan. An orphan can then be adopted into any family which desires to do so, and which the orphan is willing to join."

"And if I want to go back to the Jedi?" Ezra is watching Obi-Wan intently now, and Obi-Wan wants to tell them to pay more attention to the road in front of their feet. It feels like it would be safer than even acknowledging the question. "What happens then?"

"If, when that half year is over, you wish to go back rather than be adopted by anyone else, we will make contact with Depa Bilaba or Mace Windu, and arrange to meet one of them on a neutral planet."

"Why them? Why not someone else?"

"Because Depa was Caleb's Master, and Mace was hers. Family, in the Jedi tradition, and one which we would recognize as yours. And we don't turn younglings over to anyone outside the Empire who cannot be recognized as their family. We prefer not to do that if they've abandoned the youngling to our system in the first place, though."

He's not sure they did, though, and Obi-Wan makes a mental note to ask Qui-Gon to get some answers from his contacts among the Jedi about this. They need more information.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr 29 February 2016.
> 
> For the prompt: Star Wars, Anakin/Obi-Wan. Tempted to ask you for a follow-up to your most recent prompt where Obi-Wan's Sith Master tells Anakin *exactly* what she thinks of Qui-Gon - but instead I'll leave you with the following lyrics: "For we shall be wicked and we shall be fair/And they'll call us such names but we really won't care..."


End file.
